Things could have gone terribly wrong for the business prospects of Carnival Cruise Lines since the public-relations disaster and actual disaster that was the sailing of the Triumph. They’ve made it through okay, offering rock-bottom cruise prices and even offering to fly unhappy cruisers home. How did Carnival manage to earn more than Wall Street experts thought they would? Pricey umbrella drinks, mostly. [More]

There are two kinds of people in the world: people who take cruises, and people who have already made up their minds that they hate cruises. The CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines says that it’s his company’s job to find the people in that second category and convert them. [More]

It’s nice to get helpful advice from a cruise operator in advance of departure. But it can be alarming when that advice is for a cruise that you know nothing about and a ship you never booked travel on. [More]

The 2012 Costa Concordia disaster and the infamous Poop Cruise of the Triumph in February of this year did a lot to hurt the reputation of the cruise industry worldwide. So Carnival has a novel idea: try a cruise, and if you don’t like it within the first day, they’ll pay you to go away. [More]

The bad times continue for Carnival Cruise lines, following a number of ugly high-profile profile incidents on their ships — most notably the “Poop Cruise” aboard the stranded Carnival Triumph, consumer sentiment about Carnival and the entire cruise industry is sinking. [More]

These are the kinds of stories you never want to hear: Two passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship Spirit have reportedly gone missing, and are feared to be lost at sea near Australia. According to reports, there aren’t any lifesavers missing, which would indicate one of them had tried to rescue the other. Even worse, the couple was said to have gone overboard in shark-infested waters. [via AFP]

Now that Carnival Cruise lines has found its name irrevocably linked with Poop Cruises, the company has apparently realized it’s got some work to do — both on its public image and on all those ships that keep malfunctioning. Carnival announced today that it has plans in the works involving $300 million in improvements to its entire fleet. [More]

It’s only April and it’s been a banner year for Carnival. And while this latest cock-up doesn’t even approach the stinky scale of the stranded Poop Cruise, it nonetheless has some passengers ticked off. [More]

Having your name associated with a disaster like the Poop Cruise has got to be rough when trying to scare up new business. It appears Carnival Cruise Lines is feeling the sting of having a slew of recent troubled cruises, prompting it to drop its prices. How low can it go? One report had a four-night cruise for $149 per person — about $38 a night — which is less than a $39.99 night’s stay at a budget-priced Motel 6. [More]

Oh, Carnival, how do you need rescuing? Let us count the ways, or at least give a nod in the general direction of floundering ships like the Triumph (aka Poop Cruise) and the 2010 Splendor incident. All that help the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy gave to the cruise line in the last few years adds up to about $4.2 million, said West Virginia’s Sen. Jay Rockefeller in a letter to Carnival. So when’s the company gonna chip in toward that cost? [More]

Yesterday we were shocked, simply shocked, to hear that yet Carnival cruise ship was having problems of the sewage-spewing nature. Passengers are scheduled to make it off the Dream soon without having to go through the days at sea the Triumph gang suffered through. But today is a new day, and with that new day comes fresh news of an entirely separate and beleaguered Carnival ship, the Legend. [More]

With the Carnival Triumph and its 4,000 passengers still being towed back to port following an engine room fire earlier this week, the cruise line operator has had to pull the plug on a dozen additional upcoming voyages for the ship. [More]

Things are getting pretty awful for the passengers and crew aboard the Carnival Triumph, which was set adrift on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico after a fire in the engine room. How bad? Crew members reportedly had to pass out plastic bags so passengers can answer the call of nature, as the bathrooms are just too foul to stand. And they’ve still got two days at sea before tug boats can pull them into port in Mobile, Ala. [More]